Doing Business
Sales Clinic
Farming a neighborhood
To get more listings, establish your neighborhood expertise.
Ralph R. Roberts
Q. I’ve sold 12 houses in the past nine months, but because they take so long to close--often between three and six months--I've been forced to work a second job to pay my bills. My biggest problem is getting listings. Help!
Chris Micena,Hamlet Realty of Suffolk, Farmingville, N.Y.
A. You’re in a bit of a catch-22 with your second job. It’s difficult to give your real estate career the attention it requires when you’re not working at it full-time. I understand, however, that you have to pay your bills.
Here’s a listing-generation program that’s very effective in the kind of seller’s market we’re seeing in many areas today: Choose a neighborhood to farm that’s made up largely of the kind of homes your buyers are seeking. Send a postcard or letter to everyone in the area saying that a seller’s market exists and that people are receiving top dollar for their properties. Back this up with statistics on current sales.
Say on the card that you specialize in selling homes in the neighborhood and that you currently have many buyers looking for a specific type of house. Then describe the house in general terms. Wait a week and follow up with phone calls seeking CMA appointments. Trust me, this works.
Q. I’m a loan officer who recently got a real estate license so that I could legally collect referral fees. I don’t really want to do real estate, however. Mortgages are what interest me. But my brother-in-law keeps telling me that the only way I’ll make any money is to do both. Is this true?
Craig Veilleux
A. If you want to focus on mortgages, you should do that and stop chasing after referral fees. How can you—as a loan officer--expect to build solid relationships with real estate salespeople when they know you’re going to insist on being paid for any leads you send them?
The best way to build win-win relationships with salespeople is to do a great job on every mortgage they send you and to send prospects to the salespeople who refer the most business your way.
Q. I’m a beginner in real estate and plan to focus on the condo and town house market. Can you give me some suggestions on how to create a niche market on a shoestring?
Angela Hall, North Side Realty, Atlanta
A. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Choose one or two complexes to farm, and develop your presence there. If you’re focusing on just 250–500 properties, you can afford to send each homeowner marketing materials several times
a month. Start with postcards explaining that you specialize in selling condos. Make sure your picture is prominently displayed.
After you’ve listed and sold a few properties, start sending “Just Listed,” “Just Sold,” “Sales Pending,” and “Open House” cards. Don’t worry about sending too many cards. The more you send, the more successful you’ll appear.
Once you’ve sold a dozen or so condos, send out cards that list all your sales. Again, everything should have your name and photo on it. After you’ve established your dominance in one complex, move on to another.
Roberts, a nationally recognized expert in real estate sales and marketing, is the author of Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman and 52 Weeks of Sales Success (New York: Harper Business). He’s also the owner of Ralph R. Roberts Real Estate Inc., Warren, Mich.
